There is no need for Gators fans to panic.
Sure, UF did not look its dominant self against Tennessee.
And the 23-13 score was not the massacre everyone expected against a Volunteers team that was supposed to be down this year.
Florida's offense never seemed to be in rhythm with quarterback Tim Tebow running more than he should need to and the wide receivers barely being anything more than some extra blockers.
Then, there was the defense that had a poor tackling performance and allowed Montario Hardesty to have a good day running the ball for Tennessee.
Yet the Gators still walked away with a win despite not playing their best, and that says a lot about this team.
Tennessee came in with a great game plan on defense to slow down Florida's offense, and it worked extremely well.
But Urban Meyer and Tebow deserve some credit for realizing they would have to play a slower style than they would like.
The Gators' spread is usually a high-scoring, fast-paced offense and can have problems when the deep ball is taken away, but their running game is better than it has been in previous years.
That showed Saturday when UF chose to run the ball 44 times for 208 yards.
The Volunteers didn't allow any big gains, but they did little to stop the Gators from moving the chains.
UT wanted to establish the run and control the clock, and it did that. But UF did it better.
When the Gators came out after halftime, there was a clear decision to commit to this style of play and in the third quarter, they had the ball for 11 minutes and 11 seconds.
In the future, they cannot have Tebow run the ball 24 times and will need to establish a go-to receiver. That receiver doesn't even have to be someone to extend the field, but someone that will pick up yards consistently and Tebow will be able to trust when he is under pressure.
As for the defense, the players just can't miss tackles. For as bad of a game as it supposedly had, the unit still performed pretty well.
Hardesty was able to have a solid performance rushing with 20 carries for 96 yards, but the rest of the team combined for 21 yards on the ground. And quarterback Jonathan Crompton didn't even eclipse the century mark in passing yardage.
Hardesty was the only positive note for the Volunteers on offense.
Despite the hype around the UF defense, it was unreasonable to assume no opponent would ever have a good game. One player having a big game is not enough to break this defense.
Last year, the unit allowed three running backs to rush for more than 100 yards. Oklahoma's Chris Brown ran for 110 yards, Alabama's Glen Coffee ran for 112 yards and Arkansas' Michael Smith finished with 133, but Florida still won those games.
The defense also showed last year in the SEC Championshp Game and in the BCS National Championship Game that it can carry the team to victory when the offense has an off day.
And that's all Saturday was for the Gators - just an off day - so The Gator Nation can relax for now because this team still is the best in the country.
